JS runtime env

• To run JS outside the browser.
• Built on Chrome’s V8 engine.
• Comes with built-in modules (like fs, http, path).
• It’s the engine to executes JS on servers or local machine.

Install Node.js

• Go to Node.js official website, download and install.

# shows Node.js version
node -v
# shows npm (Node Package Manager) version
npm -v

Frontend-only (React)

• If app is just a React frontend (no backend code,)
  • Just need nodejs to build the app
  • This produces static files (index.html, bundle.js, CSS, assets).
  • You can host these files anywhere: Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, GitHub Pages, etc.

npm run build

Frontend + Backend (Full-stack)

• If write a backend using Node.js (Express, NestJS, or just APIs):
  • You need a machine with Nodejs runtime.
  • To host Node.js backend project.
  • Options: AWS EC2, Render, Railway, Vercel Serverless Functions, etc.